Edgy Singletary, on 49ers in NFC West: “I don’t care about the Cardinals. I care nothing about the Cardinals”

He was not in Epic Singletary mode (that would be the Seattle game, last year, I WANT WINNERS).

But Mike SIngletary was awfully agitated, as you would expect, in today’s press conference after the 34-27 loss to the Titans.

Not shocking that Singletary would be edgy. Not terrible, either. He’s a head coach, he’s got things on his mind, he feels like many questions are second-guesses.

He bit at a few questions, including one about the more-open offense, one about falling another game behind Arizona and one, strangely, about the offensive line.

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All fair, if he wants. A four-game losing streak will do that. So will the new QB going INT-prone. So will opening up the offense just a bit and then seeing all those turnovers.

FYI: Most interesting scene in the locker room afterwards: Patrick WIllis, stopping for a long private chat with Alex Smith, as Willis was heading to the showers.

I asked Willis about it afterwards, and he said he just wanted to make sure Smith knew that the defense remained behind him, 100%, and would remain behind him.

—MIKE SINGLETARY press conference (slightly edited for length)/

-Opening: Obviously there’s not a whole lot to say about the game. Very obvious as to what happened. I don’t think our guys quit. I think the guys play hard. We didn’t play very smart in terms of giving the football up.

We have a formula in terms of how we play, how we win games. The No. 1 thing is we cannot turn the ball over. And that’s the thing that basically killed us today.

I’m sure there are a lot of things you could come up with as to why we lost. The bottom line is turnovers, for us.

-Q: What did you tell your team?

-SINGLETARY: Basically we have to get out of this situation right now where… if we get a lead, we have to know that we’re going to keep that lead. But we’re not trying to maintain. We have to continue to gain. We have to finish games. It’s as simple as that.

It comes down to finishing football games. And that is the thing we are not doing. We’re not finishing football games. You got back to Minnesota, as you go back to Indianapolis or you go back to the game today. Take your pick. We’re not finishing games. You have to finish games.

-Q: Given what you said about turnovers, what was your assessment of Alex Smith? Were all those turnovers on him?

-SINGLETARY: No. No. I wouldn’t say that at all. I thought Alex was playing well today, for the most part. When you get turnovers, obviously you can’t say that. But I thought he made some good decisions. We have to look at the film and come away with where the fault…

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Looked like to me he was getting the ball where it needed to go. Whether the receivers could catch the ball or not, I don’t know. I don’t know if there was contact at the time of the ball getting there or contact before the ball…

-Q: You’re at midseason. How big a blow is this game to where you want to go?

-SINGLETARY: It’s definitely frustrating to be at this point. But we do have eight games left. In my mind, as long as we continue to fight, as long as we continue to play the way we played today, we’ve got a chance if we take away the stupid stuff where we’re killing ourselves.

-Q: You played a lot of two tight ends, spread it out a little. Why did you do this? Was it just the gameplan against Tennessee or…

-SINGLETARY: You’re asking me why did we do it? You’re asking me all week why wouldn’t I do it. Now you’re asking me why did I do it.

You know what, it’s as simple as this: We thought it’d give us the best chance to win. And for the most part, it worked pretty well. Alex has been doing a much better job in practice, getting the ball out, finding the receiver, giving us the chance to run the ball as well, open things up. It’s a good gameplan if we execute it.

Obviously when you turn the ball over three or four times in a game, it’s not going to happen. And we have to eliminate that.

And once again, the gun’s still pointed at us. And we have to make sure that we go out and play a complete football game without killing ourselves in the process.

-Q: Alex has had some problems fumbling when he played in the past. He fumbled twice today. Is there an issue with him with that now?

-SINGLETARY: What he did in the past, I’m leaving in the past…. All I know is what I saw today. I saw a quarterback throwing the ball pretty effectively, for the most part. As far as the fumbles are concerned, once again, we’ve got to look at it and kind of go from there.

But to be honest with you… I’m a little bit surprised that he hasn’t fumbled more. When you get a quarterback that’s coming in new and not taking any of the snaps during the year, these are some of the things that you’re going to have early on.

I thought for the most part Alex did a good job.

-Q: You said last week that you didn’t want to make any game a must win. But you now have lost four in a row, does it get to be desperation time at all?

-SINGLETARY: Desperation is a word I won’t use. Preparation is the word I want to use. We just have to prepare better. We have to prepare. We have the gameplan. Coaches are doing a great job of coming up with a gameplan to give us a chance to go out and win. Players got to execute. It’s as simple as that. That’s the thing we talked about all week. Players have to execute.

No. 1, can’t give the ball away. Give them nothing cheap. We’re just not there yet. We don’t have much time to sit around and contemplate whether or not we want to do it or not… We just have to continue going forward and get it on the run.

-Q: Johnson hit you with a few runs. Were you generally happy with your defensive performance?

-SINGLETARY: No. Any time a team is going to take the ball down and score at a critical time, you’re never happy with it. I mean, if I said I was happy with that, then you need to replace me really quickly.

-Q: You’re another game further behind the Cardinals in the division…

-SINGLETARY: I don’t care about the Cardinals. I care nothing about the Cardinals. I care nothing about anything else that’s happening in the NFL. I don’t care about that. The only thing I care about right now is this football team realizing that we can win games if we do not kill ourselves. It’s as simple as that. I don’t care about the Cardinals. Done.

-Q: What’s your assessment of your offensive line?

-SINGLETARY: You know what? The last two weeks I thought they played well. I really did. Any other questions? You have a follow-up question? Anybody else?

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The Niners suck. Singletary sucks. Alex Smith really sucks. This team is a joke. The Franchise is a joke. Good luck getting a stadium built. Might as well relocate to LA. This team is an adomination and a disgrace to the greats that have come before them.

TimTom

Abomination ^

Idaho Nick

ABDOMI-NATION!

formerhasbeen

Old saying but true, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater”. Niners made mistakes, seems like every one of the hurt, but if you can’t see progress from prior years, then you are a dumbs**t. Lots of positives today despite the loss, and the Coach is spot on. Got to stop the mistakes. Probably got screwed by the refs on non-interference calls leading to an interception at a critical time. Not worth kissing off the team and the QB because they weren’t going anywhere anyway. Give it some time, look for improvement, It’s there. Go Niners.

Stan..the REAL Stan

This whole problem is the niners are going at the problem backwards. When they should have spread the offense for a solid Hill…they undermined him with too many short runs. Then,they compound the problem by putting in Smith to replace him..then give him an offense scheme that would have been great for Hill..but Alex of course is Alex,a turnover machine at the worst times to boot. Then,Alex’s only advantage over Hill is arm strength..so,why I ask not ONE single bomb tried the whole game? not one!. Young,was flinging all over deep. The 49ers’ coaches were blind to follow.
Amazing that two straight 49er coaches will flush the seasons away because they are embarassed over the “homely” Q.B., Hill who at 10-5 stands tall-right?.

Ron D

Terrible O-line, but the the worst thing is they just can’t finish a game. Every week it’s the same thing; the defense plays well then gives up big plays late in the game. Then the offense has to try and play catch up and we get INTs.
And why is Michael Robinson still on the roster? He has not done anything all year. He is not a good runner, not a good receiver and not a good return man. What else is there? Does he pay the Niners to keep him on the roster?

Stan..the REAL Stan

Also,in a post game interview Willis on Comcast said he was “worried” about Singletary (mood? suicidal? temper tantrum?) but left it at that.

Big_Suede

I wouldn’t criticize any of the offense this week. They opened the game up a bit, and gore was able to get off a few good runs. Unfortunately we saw that Alex Smith’s decision making isnt the best. I hope this doesnt make the coaches want to take that decision making away from him. We need to see if Alex Smith can progress and become a decent QB… otherwise, this is probably the year to either draft another one, or make a solid commitment to rely on Nate Davis next year.
-
I would probably say this year is done as far as the playoffs go… Arizona is looking too good, and the niners have given away too many games they should have won.

titanic

i dont think singletary sucks, i think hes just not really that educated. Not on no racist ish, cuz im black. But he is continually gettin out coached, like clear as day out coached. He isnt game plannin good, adjusting good cant even do challenges wit gore dam near pullin it out of his pocket for him. dude is too emotional, which wood be fine if it was a real football student of the game typa cat, not just an ex football player with passion

fumblin’ frank

Singletary is a motivator, not a head coach….it would help if he had a REAL offensive coordinator to deal with the X’s and O’s…

boridge

Its strange to say but I still believe in this team. They clearly aren’t a great team butim seeing things that lead me to believe they could be a good team- and good is good enough for a NFC West title.I’m not saying it will happen but I think we have the talent, coaching and team oriented mentality to make a run. Just gotta put complete games together and stop the mistakes. Go Niners.

hibcbcbc

If you guys can’t tell that Singletary is compromised as a coach, not sure what to tell you.

Our offense was 10 times better the last 8 games of last year with Shaun Hill at QB.

Hill has struggled this year. Alex Smith lost the game today.

The guy Singletary should be pointing the finger at is Jimmy Raye. Yes, the Jimmy Raye who has been an OC for 14 seasons in this league and never once was in the top 10 in offense.

Jimmy is just doing what Jimmy does…which is poor play calling, poor pregame strategy, and poor ingame adjustments.

It’s the only constant here, and for Singletary to praise Raye is utter hypocrisy.

Singletary just lost my respect.

Want to earn it back Mike? Dump Raye and give Mike Johnson a chance to call plays.

When you hire a D student, you get a D offense.

Singletary botched the OC search and its killing us.

hibcbcbc

FYI: These are fast becoming Mike Nolan’s 49ers.

No different.

Nothing.

Karen Artt

People… have you heard of BUILDING a team??? This will require patience and SUPPORT! Look, today was not pretty. I was personally, very disappointed; however, when I think about where we were a year ago under Nolan, and where we are today, I say, Doesn’t it LOOK like there is direction???? Singletary is making the most of the assets we have – look at Vernon Davis’ development…. if Alex can develop into the asset that we all knew Vernon would… well, it’s the offensive spark we need. Let’s stay patient and supportive, it feels like GREAT things are forming!

I LOVE my 49ers!!

MK1

Question: In Q4, with Niners at first and goal on the 10 with 17 pts already on the board and a TD critical at that stage, why did Jimmy Raye call two straight plays to (drum roll…) Michael Robinson? Not VD. Not Crabtree. But Michael-Freaking-Robinson! Mr. Nedney — please come in for your chip shot.

I’m writing this watching the Cowboys at Eagles… What that game tells me is this: why are we even harping on the Niners’ play right now? Today, they were exposed as having marginal talent at far too many positions — you can see that watching other games. SF is 3-5 because that’s about what the talent level says it should be.

Niner Brad

GM, McClueless hasn’t given us enough good players…period.

hibcbcbc

Karen,

What great things are being built?

We cannot run the ball. We have a mistake prone QB.

And our defense is now practicing the “bend and eventually break” philosophy.

Alex Smith ain’t the answer. Jimmy Raye ain’t the answer.

So whatever we are building must be out there working for other teams?

Not sure what you mean…

Aristophanes

Will Singletary be a man (or is that human?) enough to admit he made a horrible mistake by replacing Hill mid game in Houston? Likely he will not be sufficiently solid in fortitude. Hill was the QB in all of our wins this season. Hill is 10 & 5 as our starter.
Hill, as we all know, should be 12 and 3, given the events at Arizona last year and at Minnestoa this year. Alex Smith is 0 for 7 in his current starts.
My guess is Singletary’s ego demand that Smith continue to start regardless unless he is injured.
All posting here know Shaun Hill is the key to our maiking the playoffs.

Brock Landers

What Karen means is the NIners are building a legacy of losing 6-7 games straight in the middle of their schedule only to finish the season out with straight wins. Only to once again give false hope.

Brock Landers

Singletary always said that Mike No-win did the hard part and that No-win built the foundation.

will

“I thought for the most part Alex did a good job.” Excuse me???? This is the man that will lead us from the wilderness? Our quarterback made five turnovers leading to 27 points, and he did a good job? I guess that it’s nothing but more losing seasons for a while. This season will be seven in a row. Maybe Singletary’s trying to get fired, so he can get his dream job in Chicago.

Kawakami is Terrible

I love the excuses for Smith’s interceptions. Two were tipped balls, yeah. But they were tipped by the defense. The first one was a bad decision and a pretty bad throw, and a defender tipped it right to another defender. The final interception was a better throw, but a dumb decision. You need to drive the field and score a td, you have 3 minutes left, and you’re throwing a 7 yard comeback to a guy with a defender draped all over him? Best case scenario, he catches it and goes down right there and you’ve blown 20 seconds for 7 yards.

Smith is one of those qbs that has two different personalities. One when the team has the lead or is within one score, and one when the team is down 2 scores or more. The second one is much better. You can’t win consistently with a qb like that, and it’s incredibly rare to see a qb with those kind of issues turn it around

Nathan

This loss is not Singletary’s fault. There is only so much a coach can do. The loss lies with Alex Smith. Everyone was suckered in to think he was a better QB. However, he is the same Alex Smith as before. Inaccurate, no good under pressure, and turnover prone. Alex Smith is a dead end for this team. They will not win with him.

duh duh man

Of Course Alex struggled, what do you expect from a guy that got beat out by JT O’Sullivan!! Do you guys even remember last year. We have come a long way.

At least Alex showed us a glimpse of what our weapons could do if we had a qb with a decent arm. If Smith can’t cut it then we find one that can. But we know we have special skill position talent, and a good but not great defense and the league knows it now too. We gotta find a QB to complete our team, if it’s not alex then we move on, and we for damn sure know it’s not Shaun Hill and his water pistol arm.

We are not that far off, and any of you that can’t see it are complete idiots.

wfan1

hey according to some guy on this blog, Sing is the greatest coach who everlive. Great coach. heh heh.

b00f spl00ge

“FYI: Most interesting scene in the locker room afterwards: Patrick WIllis, stopping for a long private chat with Alex Smith, as Willis was heading to the showers.

I asked Willis about it afterwards, and he said he just wanted to make sure Smith knew that the defense remained behind him, 100%, and would remain behind him.”

I like that. That’s leadership.

DieHard

I’m slightly hopeful that the 49ers can turn things around this year, but just. I still believe that we are a few players away from being really competetive . 1 year of free agency and next years draft should really solidify things. Go get some offensive line help via free agency and stick to the “best player available” formula in the draft. If there isn’t a stud linebacker at the spot they are picking, they better trade up and do what it takes to get that player. This need can no longer be ignored. Lawson and Haralson are not the answer, and I’m sad to say it because they are both great individuals. Safety is also a MUST. Lewis should be a backup and Roman shouldn’t even be in the league anymore. Solve those problems and we’ll reach the playoffs again.